Murderers' Row Reincarnate: 2008 Detroit Tigers

The 1927 New York Yankees have always been considered the quintessential team of the Twentieth Century.

Nicknamed "Murderers’ Row,” the 1927 Yankees, led by their crushing batting lineup, cruised to the American League pennant by finishing the season 19 games above the second place Philadelphia Athletics.

The team won 110 of the 154 games it played during that season. The Yankees led all of Major League Baseball (both American League and National League) in a plethora of categories: home runs, triples, team batting average, team slugging average, and team wins.

But perhaps the most famous feature of the 1927 Yankees was their ferocious batting lineup.

Two power-hitting Hall of Famers, Babe Ruth (OF), who smashed 60 home runs in 1927, and Lou Gehrig (1B), who smashed 47 home runs in 1927, anchored the lineup.

Of these eight players, Joe Dugan posted the lowest batting average of the bunch at .269. Think about that; the lowest batting average posted by a member of the starting eight for the 1927 Yankees was .269.

6. Carlos Guillen (1B): He batted .296 last season and has underrated defensive talents.

7. Edgar Renteria (SS): The fantastic defensive player batted .332 last season for the Atlanta Braves.

8. Ivan Rodriguez (C): He is arguably the greatest defensive catcher of all time.

9. Jacque Jones (LF): The clutch-hitting veteran will look to repeat his prime performances from his days with the Twins and Cubs

Last season was a fluke season for the Tigers, who did poorly with essentially the same team that won the American League pennant two years ago.

But the Tigers improved in the offseason picking up Miguel Cabrera, Edgar Renteria, and Dontrelle Willis, all former All-Stars and World Series champions. And several were a part of that pennant-winning 2006 club.

So this team is filled with players with October experience. And having a lot of October experience matters; just ask last year’s Red Sox, who cruised to their second World Series title.

P.S. To all of you Cleveland Indian fans out there, I do predict that the Indians will make the playoffs...as the wild card.